"The proposed research program develops and tests an integrative theoretical model of the role of habits in behavior generation and control. Research on habits can yield insight into classic questions in psychology such as the relation between thought and action and the way in which people structure and regulate ongoing behavior in everyday life. Habits also represent a promising area of research investigation for practitioners interested in changing established behavior patterns. The conceptual analysis builds on theories of automaticity to develop a dual-mode model of behavior generation. Habitual responding, which occurs when acts have been performed frequently in stable contexts, is contrasted with conscious processing (either superficial or systematic). The model received initial support in a meta-analytic synthesis of the behavior prediction literature by Ouellette and Wood (1998), and the proposed research extends this analysis in important new directions. The first thrust of the proposed research is to identify the cognitive and affective experiences that accompany the performance of habitual behavior in everyday life. The second focus is to provide evidence that habits contribute to the effective self-regulation of behavior. The final thrust of the research program is to identify effective change strategies that address the unique vulnerability of habits their dependence on the context in which behavior is performed."